Charles leavitt



C. LEAVITT. MACHINE Non CLEANING GoTToN.

No; 10,762. Patented Apr. l1, 1,854.

. UNITED ,sTATEs PATENT CEEICE.

CHARLES LEAvITT, or QUINCY, ILLINOIS. ASSIGNCR To S. R. CCCKRILL, orNASHVILLE,

TENNESSEE. y

` `lVlACIIINE' `FOR CLEANING COTTON.

specification or Letters Patent No. 10,762, dated April 11, 18.54. y

To aZZ whom t may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES LEAVITT, of thecity of Quincy, county of Adams, and State of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Machine for Dusting Cotton Previous to Ginning the Same;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the construction and operation of the Same, referencebeing had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification,in which- Figure l is'a vertical section, and Fig. 2 the frame withpulleys and belts not shown in Fig. l.

The nature of my invention lconsists iii a method of cleaning cotton andfreeing it from motes, dust, and impurities, previous to ginning it, thelatter operation having the tendency to incorporate the dust andimpurities so intimately with the fiber that it is difficult to obtainaclean article. By preceding the ginning operation by my method ofcleaning the cotton, while attached to the seed the article is made topresent a much better appearance and the fiber being less bruised it ismore marketable, and of superior quality.

I make a frame consisting of four pieces (a). The long sides of thisframe are closed in by boards (Z9) sufficiently high to embrace thecircular concave screen (c) and sufliciently low to touch the ground.Circular openings are made ineach side (ZJ) for the purpose of admittingair to the wind wheel (f) and Suliiciently large to give facilit-y ofaccess to the heads of the revolving screen (g). The concave screen (c)is made of open wire work fastened to annular heads (71,) which aresecured to the sides (b). The concave is supported on the outside byribs fastened to the heads t) and these Aribs are furnished with teethproject-ing inwardly through the wire work, and at sulficiently widedistances apart to pass between corresponding teeth `on similar` ribs onthe inside of the revolving screen (g) which project outwardly throughthe wire work thereof. fIhe concave screen (c) has a suitable opening at(j) for the admission of the cotton above the hopper bottom (7c) and forits abduction below the hopper by the revolving stripper (Z) which liesathwart the same end of the frame. The revolving screen (g) is attachedto a head (m) which' is driven by the power used tooperate the machine,thishead having a spindle running in a boX on the frame (a) the drivingpulley`(y) being tiXed to this spindle. The other head of the revolvingscreenhas a hollow journal (a) running in a box (o) on the opposite sideof the frame (a.) through which the shaft (e) of the wind wheel (f)passes having a driving pulley (n) thereon the vother end of the shaft(e) runs in a socket in the center of the head (m). The belting isarranged with regard to suitable velocities for the dilferent parts bymeans of the standards (g), in bo-Xes on the top of which runs the shaft(r) carrying on each end, pulleys; one (s) of small diameter tocooperate with the pulley (y) on the spindle and drive the wind wheel bymeans of the `large pulley (t) on the other end of the shaft (r). On thehopper side of the standards (g) another shaft (u) is hung in boxes andcarries on the same side of the machine with the large pulley (t) aSmall pulley (fv) which enables the same belt (fw) to operate the windwheel and the cylindrical stripper (Z) by making an inverted V lap ofthe belt, which thus moves four pulleys of suitable diameters for theproper velocities to be given to the wind wheel (f) and the stripper (Z)both of which are driven at high velocities, while the revolv ing screenis driven at comparatively low speed so as to carry the cotton slowly,with;

out breaking t-he seed or t-he ber, and give the wind wheel which runswithin the screen the greatest possible chance to blow out, the motes,dust, and other impurities as the teeth on tlie ribs of the revolvingscreen gently loosen the fibers of the cotton, allowing the seeds topass to be afterward eX- tracted by the gin. The top of the machine on alevel with the side, and the hopper end of the concave are covered in.The cylindrical stripper is also covered in, and a hopper is thus formedfor feeding the machine, the ordinary rake is used and fixed to theframe for the purpose of clearing the stripper of the cotton as itgathers from the screen. The machine may be attached to any of thecommon forms of cotton gins, so that the cotton may pass from it at onceto the gin. y

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

method of arranging the several parts involvedin extracting the motes,dust, and

other impurities from cotton previous to and preparatory for ginning thesame, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described; t-hatis combining a Wire screen concave with a revolving Wire screen cylinderor their equivalents, and a Wind Wheel or fan; revolving Within thecylinder, both cylinder and concave being armed With teeth set in ribsso distant apart with regard to the teeth, as to permit the cotton seedto pass, While the fiber alone is loosened, the revolving screen runningslovvly in comparison with the Wind Wheel which is driven lat greatvelocity, thereby adapting the mamy hand this seventeenth day of June1853 the same being a true description of my invention.

CHARLES LEAVITT. Attest:

THos. G. CLINTON, CHAS. EVERETT.

